7 Miljonärer (7 Millionaires) is a Swedish comedy about a mansion packed with people fighting each other over a huge inheritance.“ The story-line reminded us of Cluedo and Monopoly, there was something recreational about it,” says Ville Vaajakallio, creative director of Fake, “So we thought that developing a board game concept for the opening sequence was the right way to approach the project. We had complete freedom for the design of the board and all the golden pawns you can see in the animation represent a personality aspect of the various characters. In the first stages, the production company was a bit worried about plot spoilers. To avoid the problem, we designed them in a subtle way, just hinting events or traits that could be fully understood only by the end of the movie.”
A tricky part for the team was to find an aesthetically beautiful way to wrap the whole sequence in a glamorous gloss: “In the beginning we were thinking of using plumes of smoke, but the problem with those is the mental association with poker room imaginary.” The final solution reflects instead the monetary theme permeating the whole animation: “The shiny golden dust was a simple idea, but it worked just perfectly.”
“Rolling dice were used to give more dynamism to the shots,” Vaajakallio continues, “when they touch the board we could make things blow up or move.” About the difficulties of the production stage he remembers: “If I have to name a technical challenge that gave us some trouble, I would say the transition between the reflection on the sunglasses and the next shot. It looks straightforward but it was much trickier to carry out than it appears.” The whole title sequence was edited using a temporary soundtrack: “We had this cover of Bon Jovi’s It’s My Life performed by Paul Anka, it was going along the images very well. The final version features a different score composed specifically for the movie. It’s really fine, but we are still really fond of the previous variant!”
Article: Remco Vlaanderen, © Submarine Channel, 22 January 2009.
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Year of production
2006
About Fake
A giant loft-like office in the middle of Helsinki, stacked with classic design and stylish retro furniture, is the home of Fake Graphics Ltd. – one of Finland’s leading post-production facilities. Founded in 2004 by seven creatives with several years of professional experience, Fake specializes in digital animation, post-production and printed ads for advertising agencies and film production companies. Their main film titles include Onno von Sopanen, 7 Millionaires, Soap Prince, Kid Svensk and the tv title Uutishuone.
Full credits
Digital Artists
Mikko Lahti, Tuomas Korpi
Animator
Mari Tolkkinen
Lead Artist
Rami Riihijärvi
VFX Supervisor
Ville Vaajakallio
Creative Director
Santtu Parikka
Client
Tre Vänner
Film director
Michael Hjorth